Sometimes, to whip your body into shape, you have to get a little nutty. While nuts are high in fat, it's that very fat that makes them such powerful weapons in the war against a ballooning belly. In fact, a study published in Diabetes Care revealed that study participants who consumed a diet rich in monounsaturated fats, like those in nuts, over a 28-day period gained less belly fat than their saturated fat-consuming counterparts while improving their insulin sensitivity.

Create a seven-day meal plan. This meal plan should include three main meals (breakfast, lunch, dinner), scheduled at the same time of day, as well as two small snacks (between breakfast and lunch, and lunch and dinner), also schedule at the same time of day. This will ensure you eat at a consistent time for all seven days and do not skip or miss a meal. Eating about 1,400 calories a day, combined with daily exercise, can lead to healthy weight loss.[4]

Going long periods of time without food does double-duty harm on our healthy eating efforts by both slowing down your metabolism, and priming you for another binge later in the day. (Think: You've skipped breakfast and lunch, so you're ready to takedown a whole turkey by dinner!) Make it your mission to eat three meals and two snacks every day, and don't wait longer than three to four hours without eating. Set a "snack alarm" on your phone if needed.

In order to lose weight you must have a balance of proteins, carbs, and fats and exercise 3 or more times per week. In order to track your dietary intake I highly recommend using websites and apps such as MyFitnessPal. These websites provide sound dietary information, awesome health tracking tools, and a great support system to help you achieve your goals.
Start the day right with a berry parfait and an English muffin. Put four ounces of low-fat yogurt in a bowl with one tablespoon low-fat granola and ½ cup sliced strawberries. Add one more layer of yogurt and granola and finish it with ½ cup raspberries. You can eat this delicious berry parfait with half a toasted whole wheat English muffin topped with two teaspoons peanut butter.
Try a protein heavy meal like a bean tortilla with gazpacho. Warm up a two-ounce wheat tortilla in the microwave or on the stove and fill it with ½ cup cooked black beans, shredded lettuce, chopped tomatoes, two tablespoons shredded reduced-fat cheddar cheese, and half an avocado, sliced. Serve it with one cup of ready-made gazpacho or salsa. Finish with a one-ounce piece of dark chocolate for dessert.
Use the meal as a reward for a week’s worth of hard work, or the completion of a project you’ve been dreading. “It’s OK for people to blow one meal a week without feeling guilty,” says James W. Anderson, M.D., director of the Metabolic Research Group at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. “If you follow a healthy diet 95% of the time, you can relax and enjoy yourself the other 5% of the time without gaining weight.”
From sweets like pumpkin pie and pumpkin bread to savory pumpkin chili and ravioli, these healthy pumpkin recipes are everything you dream of during fall. Not only are they bursting with quintessential fall flavors, but they’re super easy to make—and good for you too. With their warm flavors and easy prep, these pumpkin recipes will quickly become your go-tos when you’re craving pumpkin, spice and everything nice. Read More
Get enough calcium. Adults typically need around 1,000 milligrams of calcium every day to help maintain muscle and nerve function, and it's necessary for healthy bones and teeth.[21] But calcium may also help prevent the body from storing visceral fat in the abdomen. Though studies have not shown a drastic change in weight due to increased calcium intake, researchers suggest that it may have a small effect in some people. Calcium requires vitamin D to be absorbed into the body; therefore, be sure to get enough vitamin D as well.[22] Sources of calcium include:[23]
Directions: Rinse 1 cup of quinoa in cold water. In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa with 1 tablespoon curry powder and 1 teaspoon turmeric. Add 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer until the water is absorbed—about 15 minutes. Stir in 1 cup shredded carrots and 1 cup cubed firm tofu. Makes about 4 one-cup servings. Refrigerate remaining servings for an easy, healthy snack or meal later in the week.

Eat regular meals or snacks every 2-4 hours. Skipping meals isn’t the answer to losing weight, and it may even derail your efforts. Food gives you energy, so going too long without eating can leave you feeling tired, which decreases your activity level. Additionally, it triggers your body to crave high-calorie, high-sugar snacks for a quick energy boost. Instead of starving yourself, plan frequent, healthy meals.[3]

When researchers at the University of Tennessee put a group of volunteers on one of two diets—one high in calcium and one not—and cut each group’s calorie intake by 500 calories, they found that the people getting calcium lost twice as much weight (an average of 13lbs) compared with people on the standard diet. Study author Michael Zemel, Ph.D., believes extra calcium helps the body burn more—and store less—fat.
Sometimes, I find it hard to stick to my weight loss plan. Maybe it’s that I’m not committed, but I don’t think that’s the problem. I know that nothing tastes as good as skinny feels! More likely, it’s because I live a pretty busy, on-the-go life. I don’t always have time to whip up from-scratch meals, which leads to what I call take-out derailment. This 30-day weight loss meal plan changes all of that.
In the modern world, our diets can often overwhelm the liver, creating too much of a burden for it cope with and function properly. Major contributors to this over-burdening of the liver are processed foods, meats and dairy products. Poor quality meats can often contain antibiotics and processed foods are filled with toxins. As these foods are digested, the byproducts they produce and the chemicals they contain must be eliminated from the body by the liver.
Research also finds that drinking frequently—even if it’s a moderate amount—can set you up for excess pudge. Not only do the beverages themselves contain unnecessary calories, but once you start sipping too much, your inhibition also plummets, according to one 2016 study. The result? You’ll have a hard time resisting that late-night slice of pizza. So if you're going to imbibe, be sure to stick to one drink per day for women and up to two drinks for men.
Carbohydrates are converted into sugar when they enter your bloodstream. Since your body doesn’t usually need all the energy that the sugar produces, it converts most of the energy into fat. The plummet in blood sugar levels that always follows a spike causes you to feel hungry for more sugar. If this cycle is continually repeated, you won’t be able to lose weight fast; in fact, you might gain weight.